Folks are we really living in a time that is more dangerous than in any time in even our own personal past histories? Or, maybe these times are no different from any others, it only seems that way because of the more and better technology we have at our fingertips today? There is a lot of hate in the world today, but hasn’t this been so since the creation of us gentiles? It does appear that most of the worlds biggest conflicts have at least some religion base to it these days. Race is not the biggest issue in most wars today but there are the instances where a race ties themselves to a certain religion like we connect Muslim people as being Islamic because it seems to be a fit in most cases. That is not Islamophobe, it is a reality issue, if you meet a person who is from Mexico or Latin America do you not assume that their religion is Catholic? Are most people you meet here in America that are from India, don’t most folks tend to assume that they are of the Hindu faith? It seems that all over the globe there are wars and simmering conflicts. People do not tend to say in their own heart about the person they are getting ready to slaughter, O how I love you! As long as we have rampant hate, race toward race or religion toward religion, the fires will burn until they consume both us and those who come after us. This is true because true hate is a consuming fire even after all is under their command. Everyone on Earth has the God-given right to protect themselves and their families but absolutely no one on Earth has the right to be the aggressor. No aggressor, no need to defend, equals no more hate caused deaths or injuries. Yet it is a truth that some people believe in their own mind that they have ‘the right’ to rob, attack and or kill whom ever they so choose. As long as this mind-set exists innocent people are going to be butchered and as long as this mind-set exists there will be the need for people to be able to protect themselves, their families and their property.

Two juveniles charged with arson in Tennessee wildfires that left 14 people dead

What we know about the Tennessee wildfires

Tens of thousands of people have escaped a deadly wildfire in East Tennessee. Here’s a look at the aftermath of the disaster. (Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Two juveniles have been charged with aggravated arson in connection with the East Tennessee wildfires that killed 14 people last week and left nearly 150 others injured, authorities said Wednesday.

During an investigation involving local, state and federal agents, “information was developed that two juveniles allegedly started the fire,” the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said in a news release.

Both were taken into custody Wednesday morning and are being held at the Sevier County Juvenile Detention Center.

The suspects are Tennessee residents, District Attorney General Jimmy B. Dunn said at a news conference in Sevierville. No additional information about the youths was made available, including their age and gender.

“I understand that you have a lot of questions,” Dunn told reporters. “However, the law does not allow for the disclosure of additional information at this time.”

He added that additional charges “are being considered” and said the juveniles could be tried as adults.

Two juveniles charged with arson in deadly Tennessee wildfires

Officials say two juveniles are being held on arson charges and additional charges are being considered in connection with the deadly wildfires that broke out last month in Tennessee. (Reuters)

The “Chimney Tops 2” fire was first reported Nov. 23 in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Gatlinburg, according to the National Park Service. The wildfire exploded on Nov. 28, as massive walls of flames spread down the mountains into Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge with shocking speed, according to those who fled with little more than the clothes on their backs.

The fires that engulfed the two tourist towns outside the park and shut down one of the country’s most popular natural attractions left more than 1,750 structures damaged or destroyed, most of them single-family residences. Additionally, thousands of wooded acres burned in the most-visited national park in the United States.

Video shows firefighters driving through Tenn. wildfires

Lt. Steve Coker of the Sevierville Fire Dept. captured video of the wildfires burning in eastern Tennessee as his fire crew moved through the town of Gatlinburg on Nov. 28. (Twitter @alliecoker7)

Although wind gusts exceeding 60 mph caused the disaster to explode in Sevier County, fires had been brewing for months in this region. More than 150,000 acres have been charred in the Southeast by large fires, according to the U.S. Forest Service, and nearly 4,000 firefighters have been called into action to fight blazes that keep popping up.

The wind carried the flames from the nearby Chimney Tops fire across ground parched by a historic drought and into the surrounding towns. The fire moved too fast and too far to contain. “This is a fire for the history books,” Miller said last week. “The likes of this has never been seen here.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam (R) called the fire the state’s worst in at least a century.

“To the residents of Sevier County: We stand with you and are committed to making sure justice is served in this case,” TBI Director Mark Gwyn said at the news conference Wednesday.

He added: “Our promise is that we will do every effort to help bring closure to those who have lost so much.”

The investigation, Gwyn said, is ongoing.

Gatlinburg, with a population of about 4,000 about 43 miles south of Knoxville, is surrounded on three sides by Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Smokies, part of the Appalachian mountain range, straddle the border between eastern Tennessee and North Carolina.

Considered the gateway town to the Tennessee side of the park, Gatlinburg draws more than 11 million visitors a year, according to tourism officials. It is known for its mountain chalets and ski lodge — drawing honeymooners and other visitors all year-long.

Despite two days of heavy rains earlier this week, there are nearly 800 firefighters still battling the fires on the mountains. The fire is about 64 percent contained, authorities said Wednesday, and parts of the park remain closed.

But downtown Gatlinburg was spared, and property owners, business owners, renters and lease holders were allowed to return to full-time occupancy on Wednesday. The tourist destination is expected to reopen for business on Friday.

Angela Fritz and Peter Holley contributed to this post, which has been updated numerous times.

Search-and-rescue teams continued Wednesday to scour the charred hills and ridges around the mountain resort town of Gatlinburg, Tenn., after wildfires fueled by severe winds roared through eastern Tennessee.

As the death toll climbed to seven Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, hot spots continued to blaze around the quaint Appalachian tourism center that attracts 11 million people a year. Residents and visitors remained under a mandatory evacuation order after more than 250 homes, vacation cabins, motels and businesses were reduced to rubble.

While overnight storms dropped long-awaited rain early Wednesday, helping to douse the parched, fire-ravaged landscape, they also brought a risk of flooding. On Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service issued an urban and small stream flood advisory for Gatlinburg and surrounding Sevier County.

The storms also wreaked havoc on tiny, rural communities across the Southeast, killing five people and injuring dozens in Alabama and Tennessee.

Three people perished when a tornado demolished a mobile home in the small town of Rosalie, in northeastern Alabama. Five miles east, a daycare center in Ider, Ala., was destroyed, leaving four children in critical condition. A married couple was also killed in Polk County in southern Tennessee, the state Department of Health said.

“We don’t usually get tornadoes this time of year,” said Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen of Jackson County, Ala., where 50 buildings were damaged or destroyed. “But this has not been a normal weather year.”

Wildfires have been spreading for weeks in the Southeast, where severe drought persists. As many as 20 large fires are currently blazing across 142,000 acres, according to Adam Rondeau, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, who described the unusually parched conditions as creating the “perfect storm” for active wildfires.

On Monday night, high winds swept eastern Tennessee, blowing burning embers from a wildfire on Chimney Tops mountain into Gatlinburg, the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Local officials and residents in the town were taken aback by how swiftly the fires spread as winds ignited new fire spots and knocked live power lines down onto dry autumn leaves. In a span of just 15 minutes, the fire chief said, emergency workers were alerted to almost 20 burning buildings.

“You know, it happened so fast, it was staggering,” said Gatlinburg Mayor Mike Werner, who lost his two-story home as well as the condominium business he has managed for 31 years. “When you’ve got winds of up to 87 mph pushing fire, people were basically running for their lives.”

Michael Luciano, who lives in Chalet Village, west of downtown Gatlinburg, recorded on cellphone video his harrowing journey down a narrow mountain road in a pickup truck, past flaming orange trees and cabins. (Warning, video contains profanity.)

“Hit the gas,” he screamed at his brother, Anthony Fulton, as red flames engulfed both sides of the road and embers bounced off the windshield. Their frightened dog can be heard panting in the background

Smoke filled their truck as they hurtled past blazing, burnt-out structures. “No warning, nothing…” Luciano exclaimed. “Almost every cabin in Chalet Village is burning to the freakin’ ground!”

Dozens of guests and staff found themselves trapped inside the Park Vista, a modern, high-rise hotel perched on a ridge above downtown Gatlinburg. Some fled outside with their luggage, only to find the sole road to safety blocked by fallen trees and flames.

“Then the flames came up into the parking lot,” Logan Baker, a hotel guest, told WBIR-TV.

As Baker and his aunt frantically tried to help guests get back inside, he said, embers started flying through the doors and into the hotel. Firefighters barricaded the hotel and urged guests to huddle in the center of the smoke-filled lobby as they worked to beat the fire back from the building.

Across Gatlinburg and surrounding Sevier County, hundreds of structures were damaged and destroyed – from the Sleepy Bear Motel to Cupid’s Chapel of Love, a tiny wedding venue.

State Highway 441 into Gatlinburg remained closed, and more than 14,000 residents and tourists have been evacuated. At least 45 people were taken to the hospital.

“This is a fire for the history books,” Gatlinburg Fire Chief Greg Miller said at a news conference Tuesday.

“A lot of us have heavy hearts about what’s happened here,” Gov. Bill Haslam said at another news press conference Tuesday evening, noting that it was “a little numbing” to take in the extent of the devastation. “This is the largest fire in the last 100 years in the state of Tennessee.”

Still, much of downtown and some major tourist attractions appeared to have been spared. More than 10,000 animals at Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg remained safe, even though staff had been forced to evacuate Monday. In nearby Pigeon Forge, some cabins at the Dollywood theme park — co-owned by country singer Dolly Parton, who is from the area — were damaged or destroyed, yet the park remained unscathed after firefighters dug a fire line.

With more than 10,000 people without power, emergency workers cleared debris Wednesday morning and went door to door checking on residents.

“We have not been able to get in all of the areas,” Miller said. “We pray that we don’t experience any more fatalities.”

Jarvie is a special Los Angeles Times correspondent. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Forest fires force hundreds to evacuate in Appalachia

Wildfires, like this one near Lake Lure, North Carolina, are burning across the Southeast.

Story highlights

Dozens of wildfires spring up across the southeast

Evacuations of communities and towns take place

(CNN) Dozens of wildfires ravaging forests in Appalachia are prompting mass evacuations — including an entire town in western North Carolina, a state official said.

The Party Rock Fire, which has consumed about 2,000 acres, was headed toward Lake Lure, a community of about 1,200 people, beside a lake by the same name in Chimney Rock State Park on Saturday, said Brian Haines, spokesman for the North Carolina Forest Service.

“It’s headed toward town. They are hoping to stop it before it gets there,” Haines said. “The only people there now, I think, are the firefighters.”

Authorities earlier evacuated another 127 residences and vacation homes threatened by the fire in the area, about 30 miles southeast of Asheville, Haines said. Authorities are warning people in other rural communities to be ready to flee.

The fire started last Saturday on Party Rock, prompting evacuations there and also around the village of Chimney Rock, CNN-affiliate WLOS reported.

Party Rock is one of more than 20 fires ongoing in North Carolina, forcing evacuations of more than 200 homes in the Nantahala National Forest, Haines said. Other fires are burning in other states in the drought-stricken region.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory on Thursday declared a state of emergency in 25 western counties after the fires resulted in evacuations in Clay, Graham, Macon, Swain and Rutherford counties.

The forest fires are forcing the state to close several state parks so that the people who work there can help fight the fires, CNN-affiliated WTVD reported.

More than 5,000 firefighters and support staff from around the nation are trying to suppress these fires — which have burned tens of thousands of acres — in an effort that includes about 40 aircraft, including three large air tankers flying out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the television station reported.

A number of the fires are being investigated as suspected arson, but natural causes and conditions are also responsible for blazes, Haines said.

The humidity, which normally rises at night and helps to suppress the fire until morning, has been low — and that has meant many of the blazes go unfettered and move more quickly, he said.

“It is just due to the drought, honestly,” he said. “The wind is coming in and picking up the fire and running with it at night.”

The Rough Ridge Fire, which has consumed more than 13,300 Cohutta Wilderness acres in Fannin County in northeast Georgia, was caused by lighting 28 days ago, said Mary Stuever, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.

“The fire is currently burning down toward a couple of rivers and we want to make sure the fire ties in to those rivers,” she said. “We’re trying to herd the fire.”

Belgium investigates attack on crime lab

ATTACKERS rammed a car through the gates of Belgium’s national crime laboratory yesterday in Brussels and then started a fire in what officials said may have been an attempt to destroy evidence.

Five people were arrested nearby but later released, while prosecutors said there was no confirmed link to terrorism so far. No one was injured in the fire or by a large explosion which shook houses nearby.

The incident comes as Belgium remains on high alert following suicide attacks on the capital’s airport and metro system in March which were claimed by the Islamic State group.

“This location was not chosen randomly,” said Ine Van Wymersch, a spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor’s office, adding that the institute deals with “sensitive information in connection with several ongoing cases.”

Prosecutors had opened an investigation into “deliberate arson of a building and damage by explosion,” while bomb disposal experts attended the scene. “The possibility of a terrorist act is not confirmed. It goes without saying that several individuals may have wanted to destroy evidence related to their legal cases,” Van Wymersch added.

She said that “several attackers forced their way into the institute using their car and were able to attack the building” and had apparently deliberately targeted the wing where the laboratories are located.

The incident happened in the early hours yesterday at the national criminology institute in Neder-Over-Hembeek, a northern suburb of Brussels, and near the famed Atomium tourist attraction.

Part of the building was scorched and burned out, while a burned out car was lifted from the scene by a crane. The institute is part of Belgium’s federal justice system. Among its tasks is carrying out forensic analysis for criminal cases. Belgium has been on high alert after suicide bombers struck Brussels airport and a metro station near the EU headquarters on March 22, killing 32 people.

Folks are we really living in a time that is more dangerous than in any time in even our own personal past histories? Or, maybe these times are no different from any others, it only seems that way because of the more and better technology we have at our fingertips today? There is a lot of hate in the world today, but hasn’t this been so since the creation of us gentiles? It does appear that most of the worlds biggest conflicts have at least some religion base to it these days. Race is not the biggest issue in most wars today but there are the instances where a race ties themselves to a certain religion like we connect Muslim people as being Islamic because it seems to be a fit in most cases. That is not Islamophobe, it is a reality issue, if you meet a person who is from Mexico or Latin America do you not assume that their religion is Catholic? Are most people you meet here in America that are from India, don’t most folks tend to assume that they are of the Hindu faith? It seems that all over the globe there are wars and simmering conflicts. People do not tend to say in their own heart about the person they are getting ready to slaughter, O how I love you! As long as we have rampant hate, race toward race or religion toward religion, the fires will burn until they consume both us and those who come after us. This is true because true hate is a consuming fire even after all is under their command. Everyone on Earth has the God-given right to protect themselves and their families but absolutely no one on Earth has the right to be the aggressor. No aggressor, no need to defend, equals no more hate caused deaths or injuries. Yet it is a truth that some people believe in their own mind that they have ‘the right’ to rob, attack and or kill whom ever they so choose. As long as this mind-set exists innocent people are going to be butchered and as long as this mind-set exists there will be the need for people to be able to protect themselves, their families and their property.

OF THE SEVERAL HUNDRED POEMS THAT I HAVE WRITTEN THROUGH THE YEARS THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL FAVORITE.

This is a poem that is designed to make you think, to get you to maybe get the book of Genesis out for another look-see. Maybe, if you are not good at world geography you might want to dig into some maps of the known world of about 5,000 years or so ago. I hope that you enjoy it, quite a bit of research went into making this poem be accurate. Nod is “The Land” that is just east of the Garden of Eden.

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About Me

Just an average man who tries to do his best at being the kind of person the Bible tells us we are all suppose to be. Not perfect, never have been, don't expect anyone else to be perfect either. Always try to be very easy going type of a person if allowed to be.